[Studies of three-dimensional cardiac late gadolinium enhancement MRI at 3.0 Tesla]

Cardiac late Gadolinium enhancement MR imaging has been shown to allow assessment of myocardial viability in patients with ischemic heart disease. The current standard approach is a 3D inversion recovery sequence at 1.5 Tesla. The aims of this study were to evaluate the technique feasibility and clinical utility of MR viability imaging at 3.0 Tesla in patients with myocardial infarction and cardiomyopathy. In phantom and volunteer studies, the inversion time required to suppress the signal of interests and tissues was prolonged at 3.0 Tesla. In the clinical study, the average inversion time to suppress the signal of myocardium at 3.0 Tesla with respect to MR viability imaging at 1.5 Tesla was at 15 min after the administration of contrast agent (304.0+/-29.2 at 3.0 Tesla vs. 283.9+/-20.9 at 1.5 Tesla). The contrast between infarction and viable myocardium was equal at both field strengths (4.06+/-1.30 at 3.0 Tesla vs. 4.42+/-1.85 at 1.5 Tesla). Even at this early stage, MR viability imaging at 3.0 Tesla provides high quality images in patients with myocardial infarction. The inversion time is significantly prolonged at 3.0 Tesla. The contrast between infarction and viable myocardium at 3.0 Tesla are equal to 1.5 Tesla. Further investigation is needed for this technical improvement, for clinical evaluation, and for limitations.